You’ve heard it said over and over again: It’s not what you say, but how you say it. Body language (voice, gestures, and eye contact) are essential to effective communication and presentations. Those who present with energy and enthusiasm often have a greater impact on their audience. Most important and powerful is the quality of eye contact, which facilitates a connection between the speaker and the audience. This applies to animals too.

In a recently published study from Current Biology, researchers found that dogs were more likely to follow a person’s gaze after being greeted with direct eye contact and a high-pitched voice than with no eye contact and a lower pitched voice. This supports previous findings from a July 2011 study in Learning & Behavior that found that dogs are more likely to beg food from someone who looks at them than from someone who does not.

Eye contact, voice, and gestures represent more than just a stylistic choice. They help gain and sustain the attention of your audience, and are not solely limited to human behavior. They are basic animal instincts that can be linked to multiple species. To learn more you can read USA Today’s coverage of the study or read the abstract on Current Biology’s website.

Eileen N. Sinett Communications

One of my business’s taglines is “the art and science” of presentation excellence. Recently someone challenged the “science” aspect. Thinking “performance”, “stage presence”, “microphones”, “PowerPoint”, they felt speaking was more the “art.”

But speaking is a complex neuromuscular activity (I learned that in Speech 101 many years ago) . Our thoughts are transformed into energy that sets off a series of integrated systems involving the brain, lungs, larynx, tongue, lips, jaw, palate, etc. We tend to take all of this for granted.

Why don’t presenters easily stand still, use natural gestures and speak fully? Because they are nervous. And what is nervousness but an autonomic response to the unfamiliar resulting in palpitations, sweaty palms, dry mouth or shaking knees?

What about eye contact? The average person has no training in using their eyes to communicate in large group settings. Our eyes are “used” to working in one-to-one or small group situations. Eye muscles can be trained to target individuals in a group context (science) and then when paired with words, make a speaker more engaging and dynamic (art).

And think about this: if you hold your breath, you will be unable to speak more than a few constipated-sounding words. Breathing is essential to speaking. Inhalation and exhalation, (also known as inspiration and expiration), are a requirement for speech and voice. We breathe, (inspire) before we speak and hopefully, “inspire” others with our words and wisdom. Science leads; art follows – and we need both to be effective public speakers.

Thanks for listening,

Eileen www.speakingthatconnects.com